November 3, 2016 — An attorney for former Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham sent a vigorous defense to the state’s Legislative auditor Tuesday arguing that no significant money was wasted by the agency in the months following 2010’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Department practices, especially related to seafood testing and spending habits, during Barham’s tenure have been under investigation by Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera, and preliminary reports have been leaked to the media. Purpera’s office gave Barham until Tuesday to respond to its second preliminary draft report, and in that 11-page defense, attorney Mary Olive Pierson criticized Purpera’s office for conflating how the agency spent BP’s money with a misappropriation of state dollars.
Seven months after the spill, BP and the state of Louisiana agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding, under which the oil company would provide up to $18 million for the department to conduct tissue sampling on fish to determine if Louisiana seafood was safe to consume.